CVE-2011-1272
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedMicrosoft Excel 2002 SP3, 2003 SP3, and 2007 SP2; Office 2004 and 2008 for Mac; Open XML File Format Converter for Mac; Excel Viewer SP2; and Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats SP2 do not properly validate record structures during parsing of Excel spreadsheets, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted spreadsheet, aka "Excel Insufficient Record Validation Vulnerability."
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThis is a memory corruption vulnerability in Microsoft Excel's parsing of spreadsheet files. The application fails to properly validate record structures within specially crafted .xls files, allowing an attacker to overwrite memory and execute arbitrary code. The vulnerability is triggered when a user opens a malicious Excel file.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data= 2002= 2003= 2007all versions= 2004= 2008= 2007all versionsCVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- M
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed Microsoft Excel versionOpen Excel, go to File > Help or click About Excel. Alternatively, check the registry at HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office\{version}\Excel\InstallRoot where version is 10.0 (2002), 11.0 (2003), or 12.0 (2007)Affected if The installed version is Excel 2002, Excel 2003, or Excel 2007
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Identify installed Microsoft Office versionCheck registry at HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office\{version}\Common\InstallRoot where version is 11.0 (2004) or 12.0 (2008), or open any Office app and go to Help > About Microsoft OfficeAffected if The installed version is Office 2004 or Office 2008
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Check for Excel Viewer installationCheck Add/Remove Programs (Programs and Features) for Microsoft Excel Viewer, or check registry under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office\ExcelViewer for any version entryAffected if Microsoft Excel Viewer is installed (any version)
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Check for Office Compatibility PackCheck Add/Remove Programs for Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint File Formats, or check registry under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common\InstallRootAffected if Office Compatibility Pack version 2007 is installed
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Check for Open Xml File Format ConverterCheck Add/Remove Programs for Microsoft Open Xml File Format Converter for Mac, or check registry under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office\FileConverters\OpenXmlConverterAffected if Open Xml File Format Converter is installed (any version)
A system is affected if any of the following are installed: Excel 2002, Excel 2003, Excel 2007, Excel Viewer (any version), Office 2004, Office 2008, Office Compatibility Pack 2007, or Open Xml File Format Converter (any version).
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scopedApply Microsoft security updates (MS11-038) to all affected Excel versions. Until patches are applied, warn users not to open untrusted Excel attachments and consider blocking .xls files from external sources at the email gateway.
Upgrade to Microsoft Office 2010 or later, or Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 or later, which are not affected by this vulnerability
- Check the installed version of Microsoft Office/Excel by opening any Office application, going to Help, and selecting About Microsoft Office/Excel
- Locate and apply the relevant Microsoft security update. For CVE-2011-1272, this was addressed in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS11-099 (Cumulative Security Update for Microsoft Office)
- Download MS11-099 from the Microsoft Security Response Center or through Windows Update
- Close all Microsoft Office applications running on the system
- Run the update installer and follow the prompts to install the security patch
- Restart the computer when prompted to ensure the patch is fully applied
- Verify the update was installed successfully by checking Windows Update history or by viewing installed updates in Control Panel > Programs and Features
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2011-1272 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2011-1272 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data